I must listen to the gospel. It tells me not what I must do, but what Jesus Christ the Son of God has done for me. --Martin Luther
Early in my father's pastoral career, a drunk man staggered down the center aisle in the middle of a church service. Dad was associate pastor in a very large church in Denver. The pastor there was preaching to a crowd that may have been over 1000 people (I don't recall for sure, as I was only 12 or 13 at the time--it was a very big church.) The drunk climbed up the steps to the platform, put his elbow on the podium, and said, "Preacher, I need Jesus. I've been baaaad!"
The pastor looked over to where my father was sitting, and motioned for him to come assist the inebriated gentleman outside. Quickly, my dad took the fellow by the arm and ushered him out a side door. The whole incident may have taken no more than 30 seconds, and the pastor went on with his sermon as if this kind of thing happened all the time. It was like what might happen at a national political rally, when the President is on stage and an over-eager voter rushes the stage. A secret-service agent quickly dispatches the interloper and the rally continues unabated.
Fast forward several years, and Dad is senior pastor at his own church. On one particular Sunday, he is preaching to a crowd of about 300. In the middle of a sermon, a woman sitting near the front of the auditorium is not feeling well. She decides to slip out, but since she is seated near the center aisle, she decides to take that route to the back door. Unfortunately, she is overcome before she reaches the back, and she faints. As it happens, this woman is the wife of the associate pastor in our church. All eyes turn to the unfortunate woman lying in a heap in the middle of the church auditorium.
Trying to stay calm, Dad looks for the associate pastor, but he has rushed over to where his wife had collapsed, holding her hand and making sure she is not badly hut. My father was desperately scanning the congregation for other options, someone whom he could signal that would help take the poor woman out of the sanctuary so that the sermon could continue. Unfortunately all eyes are on her, so he cannot discreetly get anyone's attention. In frustration, my dad says, "Can't anyone get her out of here?"
Now I'm sure that my father was not so crass and uncaring that he was trying to get rid of a major distraction without any concern for the people involved. Of course he wanted the young woman attended to. We found out later that she was pregnant and did not know it at the time. The associate pastor and his wife had been trying to start a family for quite some time and had just about given up. In that moment, however, there was a congregation assembled for corporate worship, and the one member who needed personal, one-on-one ministry would have been better served in a private setting, not in the center aisle of the First Baptist Church during the eleven o'clock service. In retrospect, it probably could have been handled better if Dad had mirrored what Jesus did In Mark 2:1-12.
And when He returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And He was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" And immediately Jesus, perceiving in His spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic--"I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home." And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
The Preaching
Jesus always had crowds around Him. Wherever He went, people would gather around Him, hopeful that He could somehow meet their individual needs. With so much attention being drawn to Him, the religious leaders--the Scribes and Pharisees--also took an interest. They followed as well, not so much to have Him meet their needs, but to see whether His message conformed to their ideas of orthodoxy.
Despite all these distractions, Jesus never passed up an opportunity to preach the Gospel. Wherever crowds gathered, Jesus tried to teach them. Never mind that they did not listen to Him. Think about that for a minute: in this account, Jesus was preaching the word of God to a crowd so large that there was no room in the building to even get near Him, but we do not hear about anyone receiving the message, listening to the words He spoke and applying it to their lives. What we see instead are people intent on getting their own needs met, or in the case of the Scribes, questioning His motives and His methods, and not hearing His message.
How often do we see that in our churches today? A sincere pastor who feels called by God to preach the word of God to the people stands in a pulpit, yet the people do not listen to a word he says. Some may be there for show, like the business owner who wants to be seen in the community as a good, "church going" person in order to build their business. Some may go out of habit or a sense of duty, but they are most often the ones looking at their watches and thinking of which restaurant they want to go to after service for Sunday dinner. Some may even be there with evil intent, to cast judgment on those who are not there, or to try to catch the preacher in a lie. Folks like this may want to gossip more than hear the gospel. They may want to disparage the messenger rather than listen to the message. A good pastor knows this about his congregation. A great pastor will continue presenting the gospel anyway.
The way that Jesus handled the distractions was by getting to the heart of the distractors.
The Paralytic
We don't know much about the paralyzed man, other than the fact that he had four strong friends who were intent upon getting him to Jesus. These five men were not necessarily religious fellows. They had heard that this man Jesus was healing the sick, and they went to where Jesus was. When the crowds blocked the doors, they climbed the roof and created their own access.
Imagine being in the room, listening to this amazing Teacher, who could heal the sick, sure, but whose words sounded like the words of God Himself. Then you hear some rustling up above, and you can't help but look up. Someone up there is removing a portion of the thatched roof. You try to focus on what Jesus is saying, but debris from the roof starts falling down, maybe hitting some of the people on the head. Jesus may have paused his sermon and looked up, too. He may have paused, patiently waiting for the man to be lowered down to the ground. Jesus looked at the man with compassion. He had empathy for the paralytic, and intuitively knew the man's heart.
Jesus' first words were not, "Get him out of here." It wasn't, "This is not a good time, come see me later. Make an appointment with one of my staff, and I'll speak with you about your needs at that time." No, Jesus immediately saw into the man's heart, and His words are telling: "Your sins are forgiven." I think it was more than forgiveness for being a major distraction in the worship service that day. I also think it was more than forgiveness for destruction of property, since his friends had damaged the roof. I think Jesus saw that this man had more needs than just physical healing.
It's sometimes hard for those of us who are able-bodied to imagine the depression and self-loathing that haunt the lame and disabled. Maybe he had become paralyzed in an accident that he thought could have been avoided. It may not have been a "here, hold my beer" moment of stupidity that caused his disability, but it's possible. That would certainly have made the man think that he was responsible for his condition, that he was somehow at fault for his disability. More likely, however, is the possibility that he was paralyzed through no fault of his own, but that the message he got from the able-bodied world was that somehow he had was being punished by God. Well meaning people may have pounded into his head the message the God blesses those who do enough good, who have enough faith, or who give enough money. Where did that leave people like him? Were they not good enough? Was God somehow angry at them?
For Jesus to say, "Your sins are forgiven" may have been such a relief to the man that he was overjoyed. On the other hand, it may have confused him. Surely his friends had not carried him all this way to have his sins forgiven. That may be why he stayed on the floor while Jesus had the subsequent discussion with the Scribes about His authority to forgive sins. In other words, the man did not know he was fully healed until Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed, and go home." You see, Jesus meets every need of ours according to His riches in glory. Titus 3:5-6 says, "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior."
It is not just our physical needs that are met by Jesus. He is able to heal, yes, but also to forgive, so that we are no longer paralyzed by our sins and our past mistakes. By His word and in His power we are able to rise, take up our pallet, and go. God is not glorified in our lying paralyzed, but in our going, and in so doing, our giving glory to God. That's why His atonement is complete, not just for our present life complete with its needs and hurdles, but also for our hope of heaven.
The Purpose
Jesus was able to look into the hearts of the scribes. He knew their thoughts. He knew that they were judging Him, calling Him blasphemous. Not only was he reading their minds, but what He was about to tell them was going to blow their minds.
In telling them that He did indeed have authority to forgive sins, He referred to Himself as "the Son of Man." Knowing that the Scribes were well versed in the Scripture, He knew that they would know that the phrase "Son of Man" was a reference to the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel. When God spoke to Ezekiel directly in Ezekiel 2:1-7, He commissioned Ezekiel to bring the word of God to the people, whether they believed the message or not.
And He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you." And as He spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard Him speaking to me. And He said to me, "Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants are also impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God.' And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house."
I don't think that the reference was lost on them. Jesus' message here was a scathing reprimand. He was in essence telling them that He did not care whether they listened to Him or not, that He would preach God's word because that was His purpose. Jesus calling Himself "Son of Man" was identifying Himself with one in whom the Spirit was living. He was identifying Himself with one who had been sent to a rebellious people, impudent and stubborn. He was also identifying the Scribes as the stubborn, impudent, rebellious people. Jesus was also affirming that He would continue to preach the word of God whether they listened to him or not.
What distracts us from glorifying God? What distracts us from hearing and preaching His word? The demands of the world are many. Headlines are not only distracting, but distressing. Nevertheless, we should not give up on our purpose, our mission. We should mirror what Jesus did all day long, and when we fall, we should get up again and continue to do what Jesus did all over again tomorrow.
When I got older, I asked my dad what happened to the drunk guy in that church in Denver. Was he kicked to the curb? Did dad give him a cup of coffee and dry to sober him up? Did they call the cops and have the man arrested for public intoxication and disturbing the peace? My father's answer showed me that he was trying to mirror Jesus. He said, "I led him to the Lord." Yes, the man needed to sober up. Yes, he needed to not be a distraction in church. His most basic need, however, was to know Christ and Him crucified.
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